Heart of flowers testament to man's love for his wife

Friday

Jul 18, 2014 at 8:58 PMJul 18, 2014 at 9:42 PM

By Donna Boynton TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

BERLIN — There are a lot of theories as to how and why a giant heart has appeared in a roadside field on Route 62. Maybe it's there in honor of a spouse who had died; maybe it's a crop circle; not to mention the many other theories dreamed up by busloads of schoolchildren who pass by each morning.

The truth is the heart is a testament of one man's love for his wife, which has grown into a symbol adopted by the community and random passers-by, each inspired differently by the heart made of daisies, tall grasses and wildflowers.

The seed for Douglas J. Coldwell's heart of flowers was planted more than 40 years ago. The hill that displays the heart was the same hill Mr. Coldwell would take his wife Patricia I. Coldwell to for privacy, to "go parking" when they were dating.

"One night we got a beam of light from a police cruiser, and the speaker went on and a voice said, 'Come down off that hill,' " Mr. Coldwell recalled.

"It was embarrassing," Mrs. Coldwell said, still blushing at the memory.

But it would always be their hill.

"I decided that if that hill ever came along I would buy it. It did, and I bought it for Patricia," Mr. Coldwell said.

About 10 years ago, 16 acres containing the high school sweethearts' special spot came up for sale, and Mr. Coldwell had to buy it. On the top of the hill, they designed and built their home; on the 4½ acres below is the field that bears Mr. Coldwell's heart. The couple has turned the field into permanent conservation land.

The heart is only the latest expression of love the two have shared in their 46-year marriage.

The Coldwells began dating while they were in high school, meeting in their sophomore year when they entered the then newly-built Tahanto Regional High School. Their romance was started by a locker problem that forced a teenage Mrs. Coldwell to share a locker with Mr. Coldwell throughout their high school years. Finally, in their senior year, Mrs. Coldwell couldn't resist him any longer and the two began dating.

Mr. Coldwell was drafted into the Army during the Vietnam War, and on a 10-day break from basic training, the high school sweethearts were married Dec. 21, 1968. While he was in Vietnam, the couple wrote every day. Even the postmaster knew how important their correspondence was, so when a large winter storm was bearing down on the area, and he noticed some of Mr. Coldwell's letters had been sorted and not delivered, he took them personally to Mrs. Coldwell. The couple still has those letters, which they plan to give to their grandchildren one day.

The couple lived in Bolton for more than 30 years, and owned Coldwell's Incorporated, a local lumberyard in Berlin. The family has since sold the lumberyard to regional giant National Lumber, and built their home on the top of the hill, looking out to Mount Wachusett. For years, the field sat as brush and tall grass. One day, as Mr. Coldwell mowed the field with his tractor, inspiration struck.

"I started to clear the field one day and got creative and put a heart in it," Mr. Coldwell said of the design he mowed free-hand into the with hill with the tractor. "I thought it would be a neat thing to do. I thought Patricia would really like it and she did. It was small; this one is one of the biggest."

There are two Adirondack chairs at the base of the hill, looking up at the heart. The couple calls the chairs their "Gin & Tonic Chairs," and are often in the field having a cocktail or a picnic.

Over the years, the heart has had various designs, but its current form, a large heart that is 500 feet around the perimeter and 120 feet at it widest point, is the couple's favorite and will likely remain the design for a while.

Initially the couple had intended the heart to be made entirely out of Shasta daisies. To make sure he had enough, Mr. Coldwell ordered 2 pounds of seed, not knowing that amounted to more than 1 million daisy seeds. He mixed some of the seeds with dirt and spread it on the field; reserving the leftovers for elsewhere. However, the only seeds that took seem to be the ones at the top of the heart and some interspersed throughout the rest of the design.

"I look at it as the frosting on the cake," Mr. Coldwell said.

Usually the heart is outlined with solar lights at night; a total of 100 lights are placed 5 feet apart around the heart. In the winter it is strung with Christmas lights.

The heart has taken on a life of its own.

From the well-suited businessman who is inspired by the heart to bring his wife flowers on the way home from work, to the young man with creatively coiffed blue-spiked hair who wanted to use the heart as the setting for his marriage proposal. Then there was the bride who snuck onto the field for a wedding photo; a woman who told the Coldwells she sees a vision of her deceased mother in the heart; and a graduate student who used the heart in a photography series about man-altered landscapes. Motorcyclists and bicyclists use it as a meeting spot for a ride, while others stop to quietly admire it on the side of the road, never venturing up the long, winding driveway to the house. One man has offered to help pay for the electricity for the Christmas lights that Mr. Coldwell uses to outline it in the winter.

"We had two heart transplant patients who were in the same hospital room together, recuperating together, formed a foundation together and asked us if they could use the heart in their literature," Mrs. Coldwell said, adding that, for the most part, everyone has been respectful of the heart and their property.

One day, as Mr. Coldwell worked in the lumberyard, a woman approached him with tears in her eyes. His initial thought was that there was a problem with her delivery, but she just wanted to tell him what a difference seeing that heart had made in her life, and makes her husband drive by the heart every day.

"For us, the heart and what he has put into it, it was personal, and it still is," Mrs. Coldwell said. "But for so many people, it is personal for them, too."

"So many people drive by and tell us what it means to them," Mrs. Coldwell said. "But the one that has touched me the most was this woman with a large purse on the most hot, hot day, walked through the field that hadn't been mowed yet, to tell me that she drives by twice a day — on her way to work and on her way home from work — and that this heart has made such a difference in her life and always said she would stop if she saw anyone in the field."

Though they have been married 46 years, they are sometimes mistaken for newlyweds by those who witness their tenderness toward each other; they always sit next to each other.

For the past 15 years, Mr. Coldwell has been treated for Parkinson's disease, but to look at the boxes of wood he has cut that line that line the driveway, to smell and taste the sweet breads he bakes, to look at the landscaping, and yes, the heart, you wouldn't know.

Mrs. Coldwell often accompanies her husband on the tractor, sitting next to him as he mows. She said she goes to keep him company and to keep him awake, as he might fall asleep due to the Parkinson's, but it is also just one more thing they can do together as a couple.

"People drive by and say thank you, but I hope when they drive by this gives them a chance to have a little 'surprise' at home when they bring it back with them," Mr. Coldwell said. "Relationships are what you make them. The more you put in to them, the more you get out." Turning to his wife, he added, "This is a great way to have a perpetual wish; just something I can give to you."

Contact Donna Boynton at Donna.Boynton@telegram.com or follow her on Twitter @DonnaBoyntonTG